Ditching-machine



(NdModeL) A. E. BUCHANAN.

DITGHING MACHINE.

No. 435,276. Patented Aug. 26, 1890.

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THE NORRIS Farms 00.. r'nowmruo WASNINGYON, a, c.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

ALFRED E. BUCHANAN, (5F STANBERRY, MISSOURI.

DITCHING- MACHIINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 435,276, dated August 26, 1890.

Apnlication filed June 13, 1890. Serial No. 355,291- (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED E. BUCHANAN,

of Stanberry, Gentry county, State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Ditching-Machines, of which the following is a full, clear,and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification. This improvement applies to a railroadditcher; and it consists in the described devices for causing the discharge of earth from the scraper.

Figure I is a perspective view of the machine with my invention applied thereto. Fig. II is an enlarged view of one of the windlassbarrels. Fig. III is a detail top view of the clamp by which the tilting-rope is secured to the scraper. Fig. IV is a vertical section at IV IV, Fig. III.

1 is a draft-timber fixed to a railroad-truck 2, which may be moved on the track 3 by the same engine that is used to work the windlass 4, or by another engine upon the truck, or otherwise.

The draft-chains 5 are connected to the draft-timber by clevises 6. The scrapers 7 are made of suitable form to fill with earth as the truck is moved forward.

8 is a draft-bail and 9 a suspension-bail upon the scraper. The suspension-cable 10 is fast to the bail 9 and to the Windlass-barrel 11, being coiled upon the barrel. The Windlass-shaft 12 carries in its preferred form, as shown, one of these barrels 11 at each end,

so that a scraper may be used on each side v of the track. The shafthas at the middle a pulley 13, around which passes a cable 14, extending to a nigger-head or winding drum or barrel driven by the engine. (Not shown.) 15 is a rope or cable wound upon the barrel 11 in an opposite direction to the cable 10, so that as the cable 10 is being wound upon the barrel the cable or rope 15 is being unwound, and vice versa. The rope 15 extends from the barrel 11 to the rear end of the scraper, where it passes through a clamp that is shown as composed of a frame 16, with two 'fixed bars 17 and a .bar 18, which may be moved to and from the bars 17, having bearing at its ends in slots of the frame and being forced toward the bars 17 by a screw 19. The rope- 15 may pass through an eye 20 on the bail 9. 21 is a handle extending rearwardly from the scraper, by which it may be manipulated in in filling, and which acts an important part in discharging the dirt, as will be explained.

The operation is as follows:- The scrapers are drawn through the earth by the movement of the truck, and when filled are drawn up into the position shown by means of the Windlass. The truck may now be moved along the track to the dumping-place. The rope l5 is made fast in the clamp at the rear of the scraper, with a proper amount of slack between the clamp and the barrel to allow the scraper to descend some distance before the rope is made taut. The Windlass-shaft is now made free, so that the weight of the scrapers will cause it to turn backward rapidly as they descend, and the rope 15 will be quickly Wound up on the barrel. This will result in giving a rapid upward jerk to the rear end of the scraper, and the handle 21 will be thrown violently against the suspending-bail, so that the dirt is forcibly discharged from the scraper, even when it is of the most tenacious character.

22 is a bail in whose ends 23 the windlassshaft turns and which is connected by a rope or cable 24 with a pulley 25 suspended on a bridge-frame 26. The rope or cable is used to lift the shaft from its bearings 27, so that it maybe swung around in line with the truck,

where there is not room for its passage in its transverse or working position.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with a dirt-scraper, of a windlass, a suspending-cable secured to the scraper and coiled upon the barrel of the windlass, and a cable wound upon the barrel in the opposite direction to the suspendingcable and adapted for attachment to the rear part of the scraper, for the purpose set forth.

2. In a ditching-machine, the combination of a truck carrying a Windlass with cables wound in opposite directions on the barrel of the windlass, a dirt-scraper having a suspending-bail connected to one of the said cables, with means at the rear part for attachment to the other cable, and a handle 21, extending from the rear end of the scraper, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination, in a ditching-machine,

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of a wheeled truck having a draw-beam and the rear part of the scraper and adapted to wind1ass,a dirt-scraper connected to the beam strike against the suspending-bail, substanand Windlass, as set forth, a tilting-cable tially as and for the purpose set forth.

-wound on the Windlass in an ppposite direc-- ALFRED E. BUCHANAN. 5 tion to the suspending-cable, a means for In presence of clamping the tilting-cable to the rear part of W. A. ERWIN,

the scraper, and the handle extending from A. O. FRISBIE. 

